How to wire up a car stereo on a boat?

[vyv_cox]

With any modern radio it only takes a moment to press some button that allows you to reset all the stations that are local and that you want to listern to.

But you also have to reset anything else that you may have preferred. That really annoying 'Demo mode' has to be switched off. Any sound settings that you have changed, which to my mind is essential as the standard one is pretty poor. Any balance and fore-and-aft settings. Colour settings to avoid the thing looking like a disco. DAB takes far longer to reset stations than FM. It probably takes 10 minutes to reset everything, which includes getting the book out as these settings are far from intuitive.

 

[VicMallows]

What about your bilge pumps?

On my car ? .... mind you that might have been a good idea this year.

On the BOAT the bilge pump is wired directly (via fuse) to the domestic bank. Everything else is isolated. Even the BM-1 battery monitor consumes significant power over several months .... and the AHr reading is meaningless by then anyway due to zero-creep.

 

[Ruffles]

Word of warning. On my Aldi radio, when running, all the current is drawn from the permanent yellow connection. The red wire is just to sense the condition of the cars ignition circuit. So, for this unit at least, if you don't want the permanent connection you will need to connect the red and yellow wires together.

Mine has been permanently connected to the house battery (via a fuse!) for the last five or six years. And I don't use shore power.

 

[pathfinder]

I too have a sony on the boat but the 12v memory back up seems to power the amplifier aswell,I found this out when the 500ma fuse I had fitted blew when I turned up the volume with all 4 speakers on.

 

[prv]

I too have a sony on the boat but the 12v memory back up seems to power the amplifier aswell

That's normal. The "permanently connected" wire isn't just to power the memory, it's the main supply to the stereo. The "turns on and off" wire is just to sense when the ignition is powered up and down so the stereo can turn itself on and off for convenience.

Pete

 

[Ruffles]

I too have a sony on the boat but the 12v memory back up seems to power the amplifier aswell,I found this out when the 500ma fuse I had fitted blew when I turned up the volume with all 4 speakers on.

Me too!

Another tip. If there's a DIM wire, connect this to your compass light and it dims the display when sailing at night.